All GMs know that little hint of panic that creeps in when the players decide to take a long detour through a town that was essentially meant to be scenery. They’ll inevitably stop at every house and talk to anyone who happens to come to the door, trying to ferret out whatever clues these poor souls might have about the party’s grand quest. This leaves you, the GM, with an important question:

Who’s behind that door?

In the interests of answering that question, and simultaneously heeding Charlie’s call for more posts directly usable in-game, I have for you the Fantasy NPC Generator.

Introduction

This generator can be used either by manually rolling on the tables, or by letting the included javascript do it for you. If you go the former route, you’ll need a d10, d12, and d20. Enjoy!

Generator

Roll All!

Stature

1. Very Short
2. Short
3. Short
4. Average
5. Average
6. Average
7. Average
8. Average
9. Average
10. Tall
11. Tall
12. Very Tall

Build

1. Very Thin
2. Thin
3. Thin
4. Average
5. Average
6. Average
7. Average
8. Average
9. Average
10. Stout
11. Stout
12. Very Stout

Appearance

1. Ugly
2. Unpleasant
3. Plain
4. Plain
5. Average
6. Average
7. Average
8. Average
9. Pleasant
10. Pleasant
11. Handsome/Pretty
12. Striking

Occupation

A few definitions are in order for this section.

Laborer

A low-training occupation such as: wood gatherer, charcoal maker, field hand, or porter.

Tradesman

A trained artisan: shoemaker, tailor, baker, potter, etc whose wares might be affordable by the average person.

Professional

Highly-trained (i.e. highly paid) experts who tend to work for wealthy patrons such as sculptors, illuminators, or weapon smiths.

For the Farmer/Laborer result, skew more toward farmers in rural settings, and toward laborers in urban ones. Note that, if anything, I’ve skewed this toward more “interesting” professions so that you don’t have to roll a hundred times to get anything but a farmer.

1. Farmer/Laborer
2. Farmer/Laborer
3. Farmer/Laborer
4. Farmer/Laborer
5. Farmer/Laborer
6. Farmer/Laborer
7. Farmer/Laborer
8. Farmer/Laborer
9. Tradesman
10. Tradesman
11. Tradesman
12. Tradesman
13. Soldier
14. Soldier
15. Clergy
16. Clergy
17. Merchant
18. Professional
19. Noble
20. Adventurer/Traveler

Reaction

1. Hostile
2. Obstructive
3. Obstructive
4. Guarded
5. Guarded
6. Indifferent
7. Indifferent
8. Indifferent
9. Mildly Supportive
10. Mildly Supportive
11. Helpful
12. Dedicated

Demeanor

1. Angry
2. Depressed
3. Sad
4. Sad
5. Average
6. Average
7. Average
8. Average
9. Contemplative
10. Amused
11. Happy
12. Ecstatic

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